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So it is once again time to pack the skis and snowboards and make our way to the slopes. We took the opportunity to meet my cousin and her family in London and, luckily, my other cousin from the Wirral was also in London with her family. How fab! Once Read more

Sorry its been a while……. travelling Japan was so incredible that we’ve kinda forgotten to post since being home…. The Isle of Man isn’t that boring honest 😳 It does seem to centre around bikes ( of all shapes and sizes for Pete anyway ). Issac , pictured below, won Read more

They say a picture says a 1,000 words, so this post is a lot of photos. Our staff-accommodation for four months set the bar pretty low. It reminded us of our backpacking years when we met 25 years ago! For our mid-season four-day holiday, we went to another ski resort Read more

Back in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo we met up with two ski instructors we worked with in Club Med, Yuko and Charlie.  It was great to catch up and very easy having a Japanese guide to translate the menu.  Yuko took us to a great place where you Read more

Tropical no less !!! We took a two hour flight South East from Fukuoka to one of the Okinawan Islands called Ishigaki.  Although not a tiny island we hoped it would give an opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of cities and the possibility to travel to other islands. Read more

Pete had heard about an amazing road , famous among bikers ( from one of his snowboard students who was a biker) but it happened to be on Kyushu – the third huge island making up Japan.  So we took another bullet train an hour and a half south to Read more

Before we left Osaka, we went to a place for okonomiyaki – pancakes with cabbage and different fillings.  I chose scallops and Pete had bacon in his.  It was amazing watching them make them on a massive griddle in the middle of the restaurant, then they got delivered in front Read more

It’s a bit of rarity for Pete to take control of the daily tourist planning but he was feeling “temple’d out” so another day around Kyoto wasn’t floating his boat. However another 30mins further on the train there was Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. So Pete had found somewhere to Read more

One of Pete’s ski students very kindly offered us his apartment in Osaka to stay in.  He also recommended a trip to Koyosan, of which we had never heard of.  Upon arrival at the train station, it seemed we were the only Western tourists who hadn’t – they were all Read more

Domestic flights can be pretty cheap so we flew 1 hour to Kobe which is a huge city that in 1995 was struck with a huge earthquake followed by fire. At the great hanshin-awaji earthquake memorial we learned all about the devastation and how it rebuilt itself. This included negotiating Read more

From Motegi, we drove a couple of hours to Takaragawa Onsen, a natural hotspring in the mountains.   Most onsens are separate sexes and nude !!   But Janet had researched a mixed one. It had several pools all next to a river, just beautiful. We had to wear their bathing outfits Read more

We picked up a hire car to drive north to Nikko National Park.  It was pretty crazy having to cross Central Tokyo.  Even the expressways are a maze with double or triple layers of roads with exits both on the left and the right!  Not a gentle intro to driving Read more

As we’d previously visited the main sights of Tokyo on the way back from Oz a few years ago, our main aim (well Janet’s) was to see the cherry blossom (sakura) in bloom.  We decided to stay closer to Haneda airport between the city and Yokohama, as both were on Read more

So just like that, suddenly 4 months of instructing came to an end yesterday !! I ( Pete) was teaching ski beginners and at the end of the lesson I was promoting them to Club 1 when they asked if I’d still be their instructor tomorrow ( the usual answer Read more

Suddenly, it is noticeably lighter in the evenings as we head back to the dormitory to get changed before our evening duties.  You can hear birds singing.  And today I actually saw people out and about in the village of Shintoku (where we go for any supplies on our day Read more

So we know that everyone thinks we are on holiday for the whole time in Japan but believe me, it is no holiday working from 8am to 11pm, 6 days a week. Don’t get me wrong, some days you have students who are a great laugh, lovely ski conditions and Read more

The reason we came to Japan is because the powder is famous the world over and known as JaPow. Apparently we are only just coming into the best part of the season but the last few days the Japow has been amazing. With tree runs during our lunchtime laps. Yesterday, Read more

Who knew that Chinese New Year is celebrated for nearly 2 weeks ? Thankfully the main celebrations are on the eve and day of the new moon, so this year the 22nd and 23rd January begin the year of the rabbit. So what did we do here to celebrate with Read more

The short answer is yes 🥰 The ski school set-up here is very different to how we worked in Bulgaria last season. Bulgaria was essentially private lessons and as such we normally got to “keep” the same students or families for several days or a week and see them all Read more

There are some funny traditions that we keep, some we don’t really know why and some that are very important to us. Does letting a dark haired person bring a piece of coal and bread into the house really bring good luck? One tradition the Japanese keep for New Year Read more

People always ask if it is really magical to be in a ski resort over Christmas.  Perhaps as a guest, it may be. Definitely for kids from Singapore or Hong Kong that have never seen snow before. They are so excited to get off the transfer bus and play in Read more

So, what is it like to be in Japan and how is it different from home? The first thing you notice is how polite everyone is – the bow and say hello, and this continues no matter how many times you see them in the day. The Japanese also like Read more